■Essential Question:
–What was the role of the U.S.
during World War I?
■Warm-Up Question:
–Read “Why did the U.S. Enter
WWI” on the back of #2 notes
–Rank order the items in terms
of which events MOST brought
the USA into war to LEAST
Total War
■Combatants in World War I quickly
began to use total war tactics
–Governments committed all their
nation’s resources & took over
industry to win the war
–Soldiers were drafted, the media
was censored, propaganda was
created to support the war
–The enemy became the other
nation, not just its soldiers
Total War
■New weapons were introduced, such
as machine guns, tanks, airplanes,
flame throwers, poison gas, blimps,
heavy artillery, & submarines
■To protect soldiers from enemy fire,
both the Allies & Central Powers built
trenches
■But, trench warfare made it difficult
for either side to gain an advantage
When the U.S. declared war in 1917,
The
British,
French,
&
Germans
World War I had been going on for 3 years
had fought to a bloody stalemate
on the Western Front
Russia was so devastated that
soldiers were sent to fight on the
German u-boats
patrolled the Eastern Front without weapons
Atlantic Oceanwhile civilians starved at home
When the U.S. declared war in 1917,
World War I had been going on for 3 years
In Nov 1917, Vladimir Lenin &
the Bolsheviks successfully
overthrew the Russian gov’t &
established the Soviet Union,
the 1st communist nation
American Entry into World War I
■After America’s declaration of war
in 1917, America had to mobilize
before it could fight in Europe
–The army had only 200,000
soldiers & needed armaments
–Wilson & Congress created
5,000 new bureaucratic agencies
to manage & win the war
Developing a Bureaucratic Plan of Attack
■In groups, help Wilson mobilize for war by
addressing each of the following problems:
1. The army has only 200,000 soldiers
2. For 3 years, Wilson has stated that the
USA will stay neutral in WWI. Now the
USA has declared war. How do we keep
morale high in support of this conflict?
3. How do we feed soldiers & civilians?
4. How do we get enough fuel for the
military, factories, & civilians?
5. How do we make enough weapons?
Mobilization: The Military
■ To mobilize the military, President
Wilson & Congress created:
–The American Expeditionary Force
led by John Pershing;
The AEF was an
“American” military
independent of the
Allied armies fighting
in Europe
Mobilization: The Military
■ To mobilize the military, President
Wilson & Congress created:
–The Selective Service Act to draft
men between the
ages of 18 & 45
into the army
–2.8 million were
drafted to fight
–Black soldiers
were placed into
segregated units
African-American Soldiers
“True Sons of Freedom”
“Colored Man is No Slacker”
Mobilization: The Military
■ To mobilize the military, President
Wilson & Congress created:
–War Industries Board oversaw the
production of military supplies;
Encouraged mass-production &
set production quotas
–Food Administration created food
rations & encouraged Americans
to grow “victory gardens”
–Fuel Administration rationed coal,
oil & encouraged “lightless nights”
War Industries
Board
U.S. Food Administration
U.S. Fuel Administration
Mobilization: The Military
■ To mobilize the military, President
Wilson & Congress created:
–Committee on Public Information
to create propaganda in support
of the American war effort
–The CPI created posters, movies,
speeches & censored the press
–The CPI helped encourage bond
drives to raise money for the war
CPI Propaganda: Bond Drives
CPI Propaganda: Recruitment Posters
With the military & economy mobilized for war,
combat
u-boats,in 1918
the 1stTo
U.S.
troopsGerman
began fighting
the USA used a convey system to
deliver soldiers & supplies to Europe
The U.S. on the Western Front, 1918
U.S. soldiers saw their 1st
action in May 1918 outside
Paris, helped resist a German
offensive, & participated in a
counter-attack into Germany
The End of World War I
■The arrival of fresh American
soldiers & war supplies helped the
Allies at a crucial time:
–By October 1918, the German
gov’t knew the war was over
–The Ottomans, Austria-Hungary,
& Bulgaria had surrendered
–Nov 11, 1918 Germany signed
an armistice with the Allies &
World War I came to an end
The Impact of WWI on the USA
■ After 3 years of neutrality, the USA
reluctantly entered WWI & played
only a supportive role in the fighting
–The American effort was far less
than that of other Allied nations
–America fought for only 8 months
(not 4 years), had 7% casualties
(not 52% like most Allied Powers)
–But, the American commitment to
“total war” had a huge impact on
the U.S. home front
■Essential Question:
–How was America transformed
at home during World War I?
■Warm-Up Question:
–What role did the USA play in
fighting World War I?
–Review the measures taken to
mobilize America for war
(in your #3 notes: II, B, 3 a-f).
Which steps in mobilization
were most important? Why?
The Home Front During World War I
■World War I had a huge impact on the
United States; In groups examine how
the war impacted Americans at home
–Examine the fact sheets at each
learning station & take notes on the
chart provided in your notes
–After examining the evidence at each
station, create a 1 sentence overview
that summarizes how America was
changed by World War I
Teachers:
The following slides are
the student placards
Women During WWI: Document A
■ Men went off to war, and women went to work in
their place:
– Women took jobs that were usually reserved for
men, becoming railroad workers, coal miners,
cooks, bricklayers, shipbuilders, & dockworkers.
– At the same time, women continued to fill more
traditional jobs as nurses, clerks, and teachers.
– Women worked with the Food Administration &
planted “Victory Gardens” so that more farm
crops could be diverted to soldiers in Europe.
Women During WWI: Document A
Women During WWI: Document B
■ The army did not allow women to enlist as soldiers,
but for the first time, the army did allow women to
serve in noncombat roles.
■ Approximately 25,000 U.S. women served in the
U.S. Army as nurses, telephone operators, typists,
& ambulance drivers.
■ Many women worked as volunteers at Red Cross
facilities or by encouraging the sale of war bonds.
Women During WWI: Document B
Women During WWI: Document C
■ President Wilson acknowledged the role women
played in WWI: “The services of women during the
supreme crisis have been of the most signal
usefulness and distinction; it is high time that part
of our debt should be acknowledged.”
– While women were not paid the same as men, it
helped build public support for woman suffrage.
– In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment,
granting women the right to vote. In 1920 the
amendment was ratified by the states.
Women During WWI: Document C
African-Americans in WWI: Document A
■ WWI accelerated the Great Migration, the largescale movement of hundreds of thousands of
Southern blacks to cities in the North:
– Many African Americans sought to escape racial
discrimination in the Jim Crow South.
– In the North, there were more job opportunities
for African Americans in steel mills, munitions
plants, and stockyards.
– Northern manufacturers sent recruiting agents
to distribute free railroad passes through the
South to bring blacks into cities such as Chicago,
New York, and Philadelphia.
African-Americans in WWI: Document A
African-Americans in WWI: Document B
■ During WWI, the U.S. military was segregated:
– 367,710 African Americans were drafted, but
only 10% served in combat duty. Most blacks
worked in Army Services of Supplies (SOS) units.
– The 40,000 black soldiers who saw combat were
part of the all-black 92nd or 93rd combat divisions.
– When allowed to fight, they did so with honor.
Several units fought Germans alongside French
soldiers and 171 black soldiers were awarded the
French Legion of Honor; By 1917, over 600 blacks
were commissioned as officers in the U.S. Army.
African-Americans in WWI: Document B
African-Americans in WWI: Document C
■ African Americans who moved into the North faced
discrimination & violent race riots:
– In 1917, a race riot exploded in Illinois when
white workers attacked blacks when AfricanAmericans were hired as strikebreakers at a
munitions plant; , 40 blacks and 9 whites died.
– Another riot erupted in Chicago in 1919 after
whites drowned an African American boy who
swam at a white beach. African Americans
retaliated, and several riots broke out in the city.
Order was restored after several days of violence
that involved about 10,000 people.
African-Americans in WWI: Document C
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document A
■ During WWI, Vladimir Lenin & the Bolsheviks
overthrew the czarist regime of Russia &
established the first communist nation, the USSR.
■ Communism is an economic & political system
based on a single-party a dictatorship that strives
for equality for all citizens. To equalize wealth,
Communists seize private property & the
government assumes ownership of factories,
railroads, and businesses.
■ Waving their symbolic red flag, Communists hoped
to inspire a worldwide revolution. Americans
became swept in a “Red Scare.”
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document A
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document B
■ The Socialist Party of America formed in 1901 by
Eugene Debs. By the First World War, the Debs had
grown the Socialist Party to over 70,000 members
– Debs was strongly against U.S. involvement in
WWI & published a newsletter encouraging
Americans to resist fighting in a “capitalists’ war”
– Debs was convicted to a 10-year prison sentence
for violating the Espionage & Sedition Acts by
speaking out against the war & the draft
– As a result of the highly nationalistic climate of
America during the war, Socialism was seen as
un-American & the party never recovered
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document B
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document C
■ By WWI, the Socialist Party had grown to 70,000
members including radicals & union workers who
wanted a socialist revolution in America.
– Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto called for
workers to seize political power, take control of
factories, & overthrow capitalism.
– During WWI, factory workers were pushed to
meet high production demands. Unions saw
membership double & organized more than
6,000 strikes out during the war.
– Every strike fueled the “Red Scare” & fears of a
Bolshevik-style socialist revolution in America.
Socialism & the Red Scare: Document C
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document A
■ President Wilson warned that WWI would require a
redefinition of national loyalty, claiming "millions of
[Germans] with native sympathies live amongst us.“
■ Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts
– Under these laws, a person could be fined up to
$10,000 and jailed up to 20 years for interfering
with or saying anything disloyal about the war
effort. These laws clearly violated the First
Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of speech.
– Over 2,000 people were prosecuted, including
newspaper editors, Socialists, anarchists, union
leaders, & citizens who protested the draft
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document A
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document B
■ During WWI, the Supreme Court heard the case
Schenck v US (1919) regarding free speech:
– Charles Schenck, a Socialist, handed out anti-war
leaflets that told Americans not to fight in WWI
if they were drafted
– Schenck was jailed under the Espionage &
Sedition Acts, but he argued that his conviction
violated his 1st Amendment right to free speech
– The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that
under wartime conditions, his actions presented
a “clear and present danger” to the U.S. and that
his free speech was not protected
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document B
“ Protection of free speech
would not protect a man in
falsely shouting ‘Fire!’ in a
theatre and causing a panic”
—Supreme Court Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes
in the case Schenck v US (1919)
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document C
■ During World War I, nativism & strong anti-German
feelings grew:
– German-Americans were called “Huns,” lost their
jobs, changed their names
– Orchestras refused to play Mozart, Bach, &
Beethoven; Schools stopped teaching German;
Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage”;
Saloons stopped offering pretzels
– Vigilante groups attacked anyone suspected of
being unpatriotic; In April 1918, German-born
baker Robert Prager was lynched in Illinois; A
jury found the defendants not guilty
Civil Liberties During WWI: Document C
“I remember when they smashed
out store windows at Uniontown
that said Kraut on it. Nobody
would eat Kraut. I remember
even the great Williamson store,
he went in and gathered up
everything that was made in
Germany, and had a big bonfire
out in the middle of the street.”
—Lola Gamble Clyde on Anti-German
Sentiment in Idaho during World War
The American Economy: Document A
■ World War I stimulated the U.S. economy &
increased the American standard of living:
– War-time production increased hourly wages by
20% in some industries; The average household
income nearly doubled from 1916 to 1919
– The U.S. commitment to total war meant that
consumer goods Americans had to buy were not
as available & were expensive during WWI
■ In the decade that followed WWI, Americans had
more money to spend & a desire for goods they
could not buy during the war. As a result, the 1920s
were known as the “Roaring Twenties”
The American Economy: Document A
The American Economy: Document B
■ The United States emerged from World War I as
the wealthiest nation in the world:
– With the War Industries Board directing the
economy & setting production quotas to meet
the demand for military supplies, American
businesses saw 300% increase in their profits
– Before the war, the United States owed
$3 billion to foreign nations; At the end of the
war, foreign nations owed the U.S. $13 billion
– Throughout the 1920s, the United States
provided to loans to European nations to help
the region rebuild after World War I
The American Economy: Document B
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 1914-1920
GDP is an indicator of economic health because it is the
value of all goods and services made in the USA
America began
preparing for war
Outbreak of
WWI in Europe
US declaration
of war
Annual GDP
1914 $36.5
WWI comes
to an end
1915
1916
1917
1918
$38.7
$49.6
$59.7
$75.8
1919
$78.3
1920
$88.4
The American Economy: Document C
■ When World War I came to an end, Americans
were ready for a “return to normalcy” & elected
Republican President Warren Harding:
– In the 1920s, America’s increased wealth led
to a decade of consumer spending known as
the “Roaring Twenties”
– After the prohibition (1919) & women’s
suffrage (1920) amendments were ratified,
there were no more progressive reforms;
Historians argue that WWI killed American
desires to reform & stimulated desires to spend
The American Economy: Document C
“America’s present need is
not heroics, but healing;
not nostrums, but normalcy”
—President Warren Harding,
campaign speech in 1920